By Tim Tender on April 19th, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Veronica Grilling in the Snow
Way back in October and November, we posted the Snow Prediction Contest post on the blog. Your job was to predict how much snow we would see at each of the four ‘big cities’ in the Alleghenies… Johnstown, Altoona, State College, and DuBois.
We closed the contest at the end of November and have been sitting on the results since then waiting for the season to come to an end. Now that it’s over, here’s a look at the winners of the contest and the snow totals from the 2009-2010 snow season.
As a guide, I provided the snow totals from the 2008-2009 season…
Johnstown:Â 67.8″
Altoona:Â 28.7″
State College:Â 20.7″
DuBois:Â 56.6″
Total:Â 173.8″
This season was nothing like last year. Have a look at the totals from the four ‘big cities’ for 2009-2010…
Johnstown:Â 124.3″
Altoona:Â 62.0″
State College:Â 48.7″
DuBois:Â 48.4″
Total:Â 283.4″
So who was the winner in the snow prediction contest? Take a look…
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By Tim Tender on April 13th, 2010 at 11:16 AM
Well, the season is behind us now (at least I hope it is). The National Weather Service has put out their snowfall map for the 2009-10 season and there really aren’t any surprises. Take a look at the map below and see how your location did. Notice the high hilltops near the ski resorts [...]
By Tim Tender on March 1st, 2010 at 1:31 PM
It started last weekend when I came in to the Severe Weather Center and had a phone message from a lady asking about a storm on March 7th. (Keep in mind, this was February 20th!) I didn’t hear much about it again through the week until Saturday and Sunday when people started to ask me about it again.
Where is this all coming from? Really, it stems from one guy… Lester Moyer.
I’m not going to speak ill of the guy because I don’t know him.
Here’s what I do know after reading several articles about him…
1) He bases his forecast on the sky, wind patterns, and moon cycles.
2) He did, apparently, accurately predict that there was going to be two storms in February.
3) He predicted below-average precipitation and above-average temperatures through the winter.
4) He claims to be right 85-95% of the time.
5) He’s predicting a monumental storm for March 7th.
Let’s examine the above one-by-one…
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By Tim Tender on February 15th, 2010 at 12:06 PM
So with about one and a half months left to go in winter (give or take), it’s time for an update as to how much snow we’ve seen and how it compared to the averages.
Click into the post to see how much snow has fallen across the Alleghenies.
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By Tim Tender on February 14th, 2010 at 9:16 PM
Pennsylvania – check
Alabama – check
Kansas – check
Colorado – check
Oregon – check
Arizona – check
Hawaii… … … – yup, check!
On February 12th (Friday), it was confirmed that all 50 states had at least some snow on the ground. This is a remarkable event and statisticians aren’t sure if this has happened before (in recorded history).
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By Tim Tender on January 10th, 2010 at 8:49 PM
I found this interesting.
The UK Met is like the National Weather Service in the United States. They offer short- and long-term forecasts for areas across the pond.
In this video, the chief of the UK Met is forced to answer some tough questions about his forecasts and his hefty pay on a show similar to our ‘Meet the Press’ or ‘Nightline.’
Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.
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By Tim Tender on November 9th, 2009 at 5:46 PM
It’s hard to believe that it’s time for Wintercast already, but it’s here!
Just click into the post to be walking in a winter wonderland.
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By Tim Tender on November 7th, 2009 at 10:10 PM
How much snow will we have this year? You can do your part and take your best guess by filling out the form inside this post.
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By Tony Martin on November 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 PM
Call it what you want, but it looks like we’re going to have some pretty warm temps over the next 10 days or so!
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By Tim Tender on October 19th, 2009 at 10:36 PM
NOAA has posted it’s winter outlook and the results are… well… ummm… sorta inconclusive.
The good news is that they’re not predicting a wet winter for us. The bad news is that they’re not necessarily predicting a dry winter, either.
They are predicting that this winter has a 33% chance of being colder than [...]
By Tim Tender on October 18th, 2009 at 5:30 PM
We’re coming into the snowy season here in the Alleghenies and to make it more fun, we’re going to have a contest. Click on the link below to be taken to a website where you’ll be asked to give us three dates.
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By Tim Tender on October 4th, 2009 at 9:23 PM
Everybody knows about Punxsutawney Phil and his spring-predicting ways. Is the woolly bear caterpillar the winter equivalent of Phil?
The pyrrharctia isabella, better known as the woolly bear caterpillar (pictured below), is sometimes charged with the impossible task of predicting how harsh of a winter it’s going to be.
According to [...]
By Tim Tender on September 13th, 2009 at 9:41 PM
I have been looking online all night for a way to compare the two almanacs that people look at… the OLD FARMERS’ ALMANAC and the FARMERS’ ALMANAC, but I haven’t found any articles comparing the forecasting ability of the two.
Why am I doing this? Well, it all comes from tonight’s weather trivia question. I asked “What is the Farmers Almanac predicting for the upcoming winter in the Alleghenies?” (answer was ‘close to average’) and Marty asked me which almanac I was referring to. I told him the ‘Farmers’ Almanac’ but he said that doesn’t count. People consider the ‘Old Farmers’ Almanac’ to be the authority because it’s been around longer.
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